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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Tip Tuesday! Quilting Charts and Formulas

"Tip Tuesday!" - Quilting Charts and Formulas

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog.

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources. I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above.

Read, enjoy, and be inspired!

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I love to teach quilting and have been blessed to be able to do so for a number of years. I love seeing the excitement of a new quilter who has had the proverbial "light bulb moment" and feels confident in his or her abilities.

But, we all have had those moments when we see something and just can't figure it out. You know what I'm talking about, right?

**Even though we've made tons of quilts, we just can't for the life of us remember the measurements of a queen size mattress. (mattress top = 60" x 80")

**We have those moments when our brain just cannot convert 2/3 of a yard into inches, let alone a decimal. (24" and .66)

**What the heck are all of those lines on the ruler? Why do we need so many and how do I know which one to use?

**When trying to determine how much backing fabric we need and how we are going to piece it, we give up and buy a wide backing that doesn't quite match or we just buy the rest of the bolt and hope that we have enough.

I know we've all been there, even if we don't like to admit it. I can't tell you how many times I've helped someone determine fabric requirements for a pattern to which they've adjusted a size or decided to make from just three fabrics instead of from scraps (or vice versa). Okay, I admit it. I'm kind of a geek because I actually like to to these things. And I like to bind quilts too! (Yes, Mr. Schull - my high school math teacher - I now see that I use math EVERY day, and I like it!)Over the years, I've found and shared a number of cheat sheets, phone apps, etc. that help with all of this info, and today I'd like to share a link to Jane's Quilting Blog, where she has complied a substantial set of charts and formulas often used by quilters. I'm sure you'll find it helpful.